Process of manufacturing music rolls



y -L. M. SEVERSON AND A. LIVINGSTON.

PROCESS of MANUFACTURING MUSIC ROLLS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4. I92I.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

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L. M. SEVERSON AND A. LIVINGSTON.

PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING MUSIC ROLLS.

` APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

( @Knauf Patented Apr. 4, 1922,

, .UNITED STATES-"PATENT loi-"Fics,

LOUIS M. sEvERsoN AND ALFRED LIVINGSTON, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

y l:PROCESS 0F MANUFACTURING MUSIC ROLLS. i

T 0 all wlw/m, it may concern:

Be it known that we, Lonis- M.` SnvERsoN and ALFRED LIVINGSTON, citizens of 'the' United. States, residing at Chicago, kin the county of Cookvand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Processes of Manufacturing Music Rolls; and we do hereby declare the fol lowing to lbeV a full, clear, and, exact descriptlon of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. y

This inventionk relates to the vmaking of a perforated musicv roll forJ use on vautomatic 'p layerpianos, and has forits object the provision of a method for synchronizing the advancing mechanism with the mechanism for c printing lthe words on a perforated music sheet, sorthat each syllable of the printed mattergshall; exactly register vwith the correspondingnote perforation punched in the sheet at a previous timel by a different machine. l n c In making music rolls it-is customary to run a pack consisting usually of from fif-l teen to'eighteensheets through a machine quite similar in lconstruction and operation to an ordinary vmultiple punch press, thisY punch perforating the sheets in the well known manner, so that a plurality of the punch holes Hmerge, thus forming Y slots. Afterl the sheets of the pack have been so punched, the vsheets are separately run throughay stenciling machine or a printing machine in orderwto place the words ofthe music onthe ledge of the roll. y

This method is satisfactory only in afair measure,vsince it has been-'impossible up to thejpresent time to secure accuracy ,in the placing of the words or syllables at the two ends of the roll, for the reason that, 1f the words or syllables are made to correspond with the music perforations at the beginning of the pieee,`they will be found to be out of registry at the closeof the piece. By

. bringing thecenter ofthe roll into correct registry with the stencil, the error may be reduced fifty per cent. at either end, but, even in this case, the error is large enough to be decidedly appreciable when singing with the player piano.v

There are many conditions which rco-opcrate to form this lack of registry, the three principal ones being (c) the contraction and expansion of the individual sheets due to rchange of temperature orrelative humidity,

Specification of Letters Patent.

thus altering the moisture content of the paper;- the slippage of the pack while it is being fedthrough the multiple punch press; and the-variation of the rollers or pullers that feed the pack through the -multiplepunching machines. l

l/Vhatever .the cause may be, it has been found that the lengths of these perforated rolls, which are usually from eighteen to twenty-five feetin length, vary to a considerable extent-in spite of the fact-that the are made from the same' master and un er conditions asvnear similar as it is possible to'havel in practice. The printing machine orfstencil is naturally quite constant and unchanging| in operation, so that when -thesel rolls of various lengths are printed they are found to be out of lateral alinement with `the corresponding notes or perforations at either or both ends.

In the practice of the present invention, no attempt is made, as previously, to avoid the varying length ofthe perforated rolls, but lthe Words orrsyllables are brought into accurate synchronization anda'linement with the music expressedvby the perforations by an intermittent printing and by a shifting of the perforated music sheet to correct registry just before eachimpression is made. v In preparing the master which is laid off in steps lof progression, a perforation .in the margin ofthe roll is placed after every certain number of steps. AVVhenthis*master is run through the multiple punch press machine this marginal yperforation` in;v the mas- Patented Apr. 4, 1922. Application lled March 14, 1921. Serial No. 452,261.

kter sheet also cuts a perforation on one or perforations machine intermittently alittle over an inch f at a time,by means of'these holes placed in the margin of thevroll.A It is to be noted that the holes in the, margin nearest the printing or stenciling `member' invariably position the sheet while the holes in the other margin `arensed only to aid in moving gitudinal distance between consecutive (but the sheet forward and do not locate the sheet withV respect to the addressograph machine which prints the words. It is preferable that the holes on either margin be staggeredl wvitlr relation to the holes in the opposite margln and since the holes 1n each margin are spaced about three inches apart the lonnot adjacent) perforations will be but an inch and a half. v v

The printing device per se forms nopart of the present invention and may be ofany of the types now used for 'this work such as kan addressograph machineandlis preferably thetime thesheets' are perforated, governv one that prints, stencils, or marks about corres ondin' notes onI a erforated music' e l)V roll by having the marginal holes,made at the' shifting forwarder backward, as the case maybe, of the sheet, sothat the various impressions of theV printing or V stenciling mechanism shall be accurately registered with the music perforationsj. The invention is to be Yconsidered as limited' only byV the claims hereinafter, however, the mechanism shown in the figuresbeing purelyV illustrative.

In the draiwings,-

Figure 1 isa plan view'ofone form of the u devicewhich can be used in carrying out our 4 5 process. 4 I

, Fig12 is a side 'elevation thereof. Y Fig. 3 is an end View.

Inthe drawings, 10 1s a table supported by the usual legs 11 and slotted asiat 12 to receive. a pair'ofy connected tracking or positioning wheels 14 `each carrying a plurality 5 Y of` tapered pins 15 properly staggered on evo the two wheelsv so asv to correspondwith the marginal perforations 16 of the music roll 17.

These wheels 14 are eachkeyed toa shaft 1-'8 supported in depending journals 19 and 20' supported from the table 1'0. The shaft 18 extends through the bearing 2O beyond which it" carriesv a sheave pulley tension wheel 2,1- and alratchet wheel 22, the latterbeing' driven by means ofa pawl 23 carried on" a rocking arm 24whieh furnishes the lin- I te'rmitjt'ent motion given to the shaft 18.

A drive shaft" 25 carries atA one end a wheelv orv era-nk 26having a pin27 which s fitted into a pitman 28 pivoted to one end of la lever 29 and slotted as at 30 to` receive a pin 31" carried by the printing mechanism eifank ar-m 52y whichgi's pivoted as at 33 to the base or table 10. The lever arm 29 yis connected to av similar leverarm 36 byV means of a shaft 87 supported in bearings 38' rising from the table. A link 39 pivoted to the free end of the lever 36 is connected vto the rocking arm124 at-a point aboutmidwav between its hub and the 1pawl-23which A pawll 40 pivote-d to thev table 10 operates by gravity to hold the ratchet wheel 22, and

hence the shaft 18, stationary against the action 4ofthe coiled spring 4:1' which is connected to a belt 42 lying inthe grooveof the sheav@ pulley tension wheel 21, so as to urge thewheelin a counterclockwise direction, as seen in Fig.` 2,'the` vnecessary resilience ,being providedV by a second'spring'13` secured tothe belt 42' andi' to a lug 44 depending from the table 10, 'to' which'llu'gv is a also secured the free end 'ofthe spring` 41. The throw of the'rocking' arm'24, by virtue of theV relativeV lengths ofthe levers 29and 36, is such as to cause the ratchet wheel 22 to slightly overrun the pawl 40, butwhen tlieflink 39is descending with the now inactivepawl 23, the coiled spring ltlf-will act to draw the ratchet wheel 22into firm,v contact with the stop pawl 4() and willho'ld the `a] p1-'opriate conical pin 15 exactly'centra'lly of the slot 12.

It will be noted hat the'number of ratchet teeth isthe same as the number'of pins 15` on either of the tracking wheels 14: or, in other words. lth'e'nuinber of ratchet teeth corresponds to the total' number of positioning pins and the pawl40 isso located that during each dwell ofthe intermittent mechanism asingleV positioning pin will bever-ticallyabove the4 shaft 18, and on lthefnext reciprocation of the rocking arm the next adjacent pin on the same tracking wheel will be similarly loc-ated;

4The printing head, Vis diagrammatically illustrated at 45 Vand is secured to an arm 16 K forming with the arm 82 a bell' cra-nk lever pivoted just below thetablefat 33. Tlieim-A pression stroke is timed to take place whileV the tracking' wheels are still, and' sincefthis printing mecliani'smis preferably regularly timed` receiving its motion from the crank- 26 and Vpitman 28, the pushing pawl 23 is caused to recede slightly past thefnex't successive ratchet tooth to vthe rear in order' to provide sufficient lostmotion to' vinsure the raising of the tvpe or 'stencil fromthe paper before the ltracker wheels startrto advance the roll.

1 The recordroll vsheets are punched in packsl as stated, Vthe music perfor-ations being` formed by a plurality of punch jhol'es varying from single circular holes to longillustrated.

slots made of a hundred or more overlapped holes, while the marginal perforations are each single holes spaced about seventy steps of progression of the sheets apart on each margin, so that the sheets or rolls will advance thirty-five times between the punching of successive opposite marginal perforations. It is preferable to punch a half `dozen or, so marginal perforations vat either end of the rolls beyond the notes corresponding to the words, in order to permit the advancing of the sheets a number of times before the first impression, but this is not at all essential.

lVhen the pack of sheets is punched the rolls are fed separately to the mechanism It will be understood that the rolls are delivered to the printer reversed.. so that the rolls, when printed, may be wound directly upon the cores or spools in finished form, except for the ring-holding tabs which are later affixed to the pointed fronttip of the roll, and that only such mechanism is shown as is thought necessary to illustrate the practice of the process, all other mechanism being omitted for the sake of clearness and to emphasize the fact that the invention lies particularly in the process itself, rather than in the specific embodiment of any particular printing and advancing means.

The sha-ft Q5 rotates at constant speed and, therefore, operates the printing head at a definite number of reciprocations per minute by virtue of the slot and pin connection with the pitman 28. The pitman, thus operated, constantly and regularly rocks the levers Q9 and 3G and through the link 39 and the pushing pawl 23 intermittently operates the tracker wheels 14 to advance the sheet or roll, but acts in such a y manner that the pawl 23 overruns its dwell ,ing head 45 which prints the syllables.

position to an extent equal tothe greatest possible variation in the spacing of successive perforations 16 in the side margins of the perforated roll, in order to insure that the conical pin shall properly engage the corresponding hole 1G on its forward movement and carry the slack in the roll slightly beyond the printing position. Thel spring il nowreturns the tracker wheels 14 and consequently the appropriate pin l5 to proper position, this action causing a shifting of the record sheet 17 to correct registry with the printing mechanism, irrespective of the shrinkage or expansion of the sheet. The spring 41 co-operates .with the pawl 40 to hold the tracker wheels 14 in definite position during the downward movement of the link 39 which takes place simultaneously with the downward movement of the prinIt- At will be noted that the tracking mechanism is stationary during the printing and that for a slight period just before, immediately after, and during the impression strokethe position of the l'slack in the record sheet 17 is controlled absolutelyfand solely by a sin-` invention in any way or to narrowthe meanings of the words of the following claims.

which define such invention; for example,

the word printing is intended to cover all means for making a mark, such as by type printing, impressing, stenciling, etc.

lVhat We claim is: v

1. The method of making music rolls which consists in ksimultaneously perforating a plurality of sheets, separating said sheets and printing same one at a time, intermittently shifting the sheet being printed by means of certainof said perforations.

2. The method of making music rolls which consists insimultaneously perfor-ating a plurality of sheets to form slots to operate a player piano and simultaneously making other perforations at regular intervals throughout the length of the sheets, later printing the sheets one at a time with words corresponding to the slots. and in intermittently shifting the sheet being printed by means of mechanism engaging the additional perforations.

3. The method of securing registry between the printed syllables of a musical composition and the music slots in a music roll sheet which consists in shifting (the sheet both forwardly and backwardly a considerable number of times and in printing van impression afterA each forward and backward shifting of the sheet.

4. The method of securing registry between the words and music on a music roll sheet which consists in perforating the sheet with marginal perforations in spaced relation to the slotted perforations representing the music, intermittently printing -the words upon said sheet and in shifting the sheet between impressions of the printing mechanism by means of mechanism cooperating with said marginal perforations.

5." The method of manufacturing music rolls which consists `in perforating a plurality of sheets in step'sot progression to form slots and in perforating the side margins of the sheet at regular intervals, pass-- ing said sheets one at a time through a printing press operating at a. constant speed, feeding said sheet forwardly of true printing position'by an amount dependentupon the stretching or shrinking of the sheet after perforation, and then returning the sheet aut-onnitiottlly to Correct 'registryby means printing intermittei'itly at a Constant speed andi in pulling-thesheets through saidl printing -meehanisni between? impressions by means of pinsy adapted tov cooperate Vwith the sidev marginal p'erforat-ions, a'singieV peri foration' onone margin being engaged at each movement ofthe sheet and said pins overrunmng the correct printing positionl at each movement and' automatically returning 20 the sheet to4 Correctpositionv for printing.

Louis M. sE-vnnso'n. ALFRED LIVINGSTON, 

